Look of Horror
by aaliona
Summary: Fred lets something slip that Hiro never needed to know. Of course he needs the full story now.


Hiro stared up at Gogo in horror, his mouth hanging open.

Snapping her gum with an unamused expression, she stood from the counter and turned away. "Fred, you need to learn to shut your mouth."

"But it is a true thing that happened, and we should always embrace the truth."

Honey let out a nervous giggle, grabbing the fourteen-year-old's arm. "Hiro, why don't we go see if Cass needs help with the baking." Although she tugged rather forcefully, Hiro didn't move. He continued to gaze at Gogo with that same expression.

"It's not a big deal," Gogo said, rolling her shoulders. She couldn't see Hiro anymore, but she could still tell he was staring at her. Staring had never made her feel particularly comfortable.

Wasabi stepped between them for another distraction attempt. "We could, you know, go to the lab and figure out some new project. I, um, think my tech's safety module still needs some tweaking.

Gogo couldn't resist the urge to turn back to the group and immediately wished she hadn't. Undeterred by Wasabi's large body in the way, Hiro had hopped up onto a stool to continue his staring over their friend's shoulder.

"Did you guys seriously sleep together?"

She flinched, noticing briefly that everyone else did as well, except Fred.

Honey stepped forward and said, "Hiro, that's not—"

"Yeah, they did!" Fred cut in with a laugh. "They definitely fucked."

Gogo put a hand to her face, making a mental note to accidentally hit Fred with lab parts the next day. When she opened her eyes again, Hiro was still making that face.

"You guys… You fucked?" The word sounded coarse and unnatural coming from the normally innocent Hiro's mouth.

"They fucked," Fred repeated, ignoring the shock on everyone else's faces.

"Fine," Gogo snapped. "Yes, we did. Tadashi and I fucked, okay? Are you happy now, lizard face?"

"Peachy," he said before nearly skipping away. "Do you think Cass will let me steal some muffins?"

Wasabi looked between Hiro's revulsion and Gogo's anger before inching in the same direction. "I'll go… make sure he doesn't burn himself. Yeah, that sounds like a convincing excuse." He was gone in the next instance.

Honey, bless her naive little heart, put a hand on Hiro's shoulder. "Now I'm sure it's not what you think and just—"

"Go with them, Honey Lemon."

The blonde looked up, studying Gogo's stoic face, but she refused to break eye contact with Hiro. "Okay, I'll… You two have a nice talk." Then she too had scrambled away.

Alone at the café counter, Gogo let out a sigh of defeat, her shoulders slumping. "We probably shouldn't talk here. Can we go up to your room?"

Hiro nodded wordlessly and led the way up the stairs. When they got to the top, he glanced back at her once before moving over to sit in his desk chair. From her spot in the doorway, Gogo could see Tadashi's bed. She could feel a lump forming in her throat, but she pushed the feeling down and went to sit on Hiro's bed, the only remaining option.

"Look," she began. But she couldn't continue. Gogo stared down at her hands helplessly as she wondered where on earth she should begin. Finally she looked up at Hiro again. "Did Tadashi ever tell you how we met?"

Without speaking, Hiro shook his head.

"Right," she said with a voice smaller than usual. "I guess I should probably start there. It was actually at a party. Some fraternity raised a bunch of money for the science department and threw a party to celebrate. I didn't really want to be there, but we were encouraged to go. Plus, who was I to turn down a few free drinks? Frat guys really aren't that bad when you make it clear that you'll chop them in half for hitting on you."

Gogo offered Hiro a small smile in attempt to lighten the mood. It didn't work.

"Anyway I was there and talking to some girls, and one of them grabs my arm and goes, 'Oh my god, do you know who that guy is?' So I look other and see this guy who seems pretty cute and not really the frat type. This girl continues and explains that his name is Tadashi Hamada and that he's super smart and sciency but still really cute and social, and isn't that just the hottest thing ever?" She rolled her eyes. "Since this girl was being such a freak about him, I went over to talk, figuring he'd be a total douche or really snobby or something. Nobody's perfect." Taking a deep breath, Gogo smiled down at her hands in her lap. "But the thing is… he actually was. He actually was super smart and sciency but still a funny and nice guy to be around.

"We talked for what felt like ages until it was time for him to go because he had to be up early to take his brother to a robotics tournament, and wasn't that just icing on the fucking cake?" Her breathing shuddered, and Gogo realized she was crying. "He offered to drive me home, and we spent the whole ride talking over the wind about this project idea of mine—the bike. When he dropped me off, it was like some kind of little fairy tale. Nothing had ever been that good for me."

She glanced at Hiro, who was pointedly staring at his blank computer screen.

"I decided to be spontaneous and chance it. As I got off his moped, I turned around and kissed him. It was just meant to be this quick, cute little moment to end the night, but the next thing I knew his moped was turned off, the helmet bounced off the seat and hit the ground, and he was following me up to my apartment. He hadn't had anything to drink and I'd only had a little, so alcohol definitely wasn't to blame. We just…"

Gogo let out a wistful sigh before remember this was Tadashi's brother she was talking to. "Anyway, long story short we woke up in the morning to his phone alarm because he still had to take you to that tournament. We talked some as he got ready to leave, and I didn't think I'd ever see him again. Then my project was accepted, and I got upgraded to a better lab. I walked in that first day, and there he was, leaning in the doorway to his workspace. He nearly fell over when he saw me. We talked for a while, all casual and everything before moving into his office. We eventually kissed some more and, um, christened one of his desks. We talked about it becoming a regular thing, but it just never did. As weird as it sounds, Tadashi and I slipped into being friends after that. We worked so well as just friends that no one would have ever known if Fred hadn't seen me leaving his office, but… it didn't change anything."

At this point, she couldn't look at Hiro. Her face was too wet with tears, and she feared the judgment she might find. They sat in silence for what felt like hours before Hiro finally spoke.

"I use those desks."

Gogo flinched. She let out a nervous chuckle as she made eye contact. "I, um, sorry. It was cleaned after, but I can see about getting it replaced if it's seriously gross for you."

"It is seriously gross," he said, but Gogo noticed some of the light returning to his eyes. "I mean how am I supposed to work if I just randomly zone out wondering how it happened and where exactly and everything."

"Hiro!" she shrieked, covering her face. "You shouldn't think about those things, much less with people you know."

"But you put the idea in my head!"

"It's Fred's fault," she insisted and started to laugh.

Hiro laughed too, and eventually they stopped to look at each other. Silence fell before they both laughed again.

Gogo studied him, watching as he bit back a smile and opened his mouth. "So who was on top?"

"I swear if you ask me more questions about it I'm going to hit you with something."

"So him?"

She threw the first thing her hand came in contact with.

"That hurt!"

"It was just a pillow. Woman up."

Mingled voices and the sound of feet on the stairs had both turning toward the door. Honey chuckled nervously as the group appeared in the doorway. "We tried to keep Fred from saying anything, but…"

Cass pushed past the students, standing at the top of the stairs with her hands on her hips. "Tell me you used protection."


End file.
